The Game in the Story
by Icebend28
Summary: A young adult finds her self in Middle Earth after making a wish to Varda.


Disclaimer: I do not own _the Lord of the Rings_, other works by Tolkien, or _Lord of the Rings Online_, Tolkien and Turbine do. Nor Do I own the LOTR movie trilogy, Peter Jackson and others do.

**Prologue**

I love LOTRO and it goes without saying that I love LOTR as well. The game is awesome and amazing to play. A person can play as a customized character that they created. In this game they have the option of which gender to choose along with race (elf/man/dwarf/Hobbit) and class. Choosing a class that is right for the player is tough because they are all so different, interesting and varying difficulty. The classes are Champion, Guardian, Burglar, Minstrel, Warden, Hunter, Captain, Rune Keeper, and Lore Master. The character I play is an elven Lore Master who is at level 61 currently. The highest level that you can reach currently is level eighty-five. Why is this so important?

Well, I can't quite tell my story if the reader has trouble understanding certain aspects of the story. Can I?

**Chapter One**

The computer screen flickered back to the desktop after I logged out of the LOTRO game. My Lore Master character had just finished a difficult skirmish that she and her fellowship narrowly avoiding failing but they had won in the end. Two of her six men (and women) had leveled up and she herself was very close to leveling up too. She enjoyed playing her Lore Master very much over her few other characters. The Lore Master class was a class that did magic and summon pets as aides. In game terms, they supported the other players and had several attacks that would render enemies unmoving this is also known as crowd control. Her next highest level character was a female human Minstrel that was currently at level twenty-seven and on another server.

_Lord of the Rings Online_ for me is a way to escape my current reality. I enjoy it so much, that I would rather do it than complete homework or other chores. I know I am a little obsessed, but I don't mind. I have problems interacting with others in real life but in the game I am able to connect with others and am comfortable interacting with them. According to my therapist, my maturity level does not match my age and I have Attention Deficient Disorder (also known as ADD). So my social life is LOTRO and school.

I shut down my computer after a quick check of my email because it is time to go to bed and be able to get a decent amount of sleep to focus for school tomorrow. I check the time and sees that it is midnight and that meant I had played well past the time I should have logged off. I get up and go to close the window and blinds. The view outside my window makes me stop in middle of closing. The clouds had disappeared while I had been playing LOTRO for the first time in weeks and I could see countless stars like the constellations Cassiopeia and Ursa Major. The North Star is shining especially bright tonight. The North Star guided people like Eӓrendil in Arda. I suddenly get a nostalgic feeling. I remember the time when I was a kid and I uttered songs about the stars and wishes. As now an adult I utter my own wish.

"Varda, who is the queen of the stars in Arda, I wish I could go to Middle Earth, make friends and help the people there," I said as I close the blinds and go to sleep.

When I woke up, I felt as though I have a hangover. I open my eyes and saw that the scenery looks all blurry, I groan and close my eyes. The noises all around me were really loud and I have the mother of all headaches. I winced as I heard a loud neigh in my right ear. I blink twice and the scenery comes into focus. I am in a forest clearing and a head comes into view as I lay on the forest ground, which is fortunately not wet. It is a horse's head. I sit up and look around, there is no one but the horse in the clearing. Beside me and on the ground, lay a staff. I pick it up and look at it more closely. It reminded me of the staff that my Lore Master used in Moria, a legendary Item. I get up and notice that I was not wearing the clothes I went to bed in.

I am wearing purple robe, gloves, shoulder pads, shoes, leggings and a hat. Buckled around my waist is a sword. My headache lessens somewhat, and a head rubs my shoulder, so I scratch it behind the ear which the horse seems to like.

"Where am I? How did I get here? What happened to me and how long am I here for? But most importantly who do you belong to?" I asked the horse.

The horse rubs it's nose into my shoulder again and I received the answer to only one of my questions. The horse was a white stallion with black socks. It is all saddled up with several big saddle bags. I sit up and realize that I felt taller. I look up at the horse and realize that I am not sure that I could pull myself in to his saddle, so I grab his reins and guide him to the water that I hear running in the distance earlier.

We get to the small river, half an hour later. I should not call it a river it is more like a small stream. I grab the water skins that poke out of the bag and place my hat where the bags are. I then fill the skins up with water from the stream. After I fill up the skins sit by the stream's bed, I stare as the water clams down and I get a clear view of my facial features. I look totally different from last night. Gone are my freckles and my fat; instead my skin is a pale color without imperfections and I have a slender and graceful body. My facial features are now streamlined, though I retained my blue eyes and light brown hair. The biggest change though were my ears, which had gained points. I am an elf. I AM AN ELF! I look just like my LOTRO character. Oh, my GOSH! I am no longer human and my headache which had been clearing up before, now came back with a vengeance. I suddenly remember what I had wished for last night. I may have wished to go to Arda, but I didn't wish to be an elf! Sure there were benefits to being an elf, but I didn't wish to be one. Since I looked and was dressed like my character from the game, did that mean I had the same abilities as my character did in the game?

I place the water bottles back in their spots in the saddle bags and put my hat on again. I spin around and walk a few paces away from my horse. I lift my staff and raise my other hand.

"Bear Speech!" I shouted and a body starts to form, transparent as a ghost that slowly filled in. It is a huge bear that reminded me of a black bear that I could summon in the game. I wonder if it is as friendly and helpful as it is in game. As if it could read my mind it comes over to me in a nonaggressive manner and rubs it face into my shoulder. I pet it gently, the fur running through my fingers.

"Do you have names?" I asked the animals and receive negative responses from them.

"I'll call you Hunter," I point to the bear, "And, you horse, will be Chaser. I know that the names are not very original but I honestly don't know what are good bear and horse names. So they will have to do for now." I don't think they mind their names too much.

I then attempt to pull myself into the saddle and end up on my rear, to the amusement of my companions. They make noises that sound like laughter.

"Yeah, real funny," I mutter under my breath. "Just keep on laughing."

I make a few more attempts and a few more under the breath sarcastic comments mostly directed at myself. I finally get into the saddle on Chaser's back.

"Now, we need to find the nearest person or civilization in order to get the date and our bearings," I told my companions. I also mutter a quick prayer to anyone listening that anyone I came across shared the same language as I. What should I do after I find out the information I needed? What story line did this middle earth follow?

I point to my left and my horse and my bear walks or trots in that direction. We travel for hours, until the sun sets. Then I set up a fire and ate some sort of bread bar. My companions each ate some sort of nearby plants in a circle around me. Hunter ate some berries and Chaser ate nearby grass. I lean against a nearby tree and fell into a light doze.

I suddenly wake when I hear noises behind the bushes in front of me. Chaser is asleep on the ground next to me, Hunter on the other hand, is awake and growling at the bushes. I pick up my staff.

"Whoever it is in those bushes come out now where I can see you," I said.

Four figures came out from behind the bushes.


End file.
